Dav Whatmore

Dav Whatmore

Dav Whatmore is the current Zimbabwe National cricket team coach. Whatmore's appointment as the new coach came as a replacement to Stephen Mangongo who was fired from the post following a string of poor results.

Contents

Background

Born Davenell Frederick Whatmore on March 16, 1954 in Sri Lanka, he migrated to Australia as a child where he eventually spent the greater part of his life.[1]

Playing career

Having moved to Australia as a child, Whatmore played for the Australian national team featuring in seven of their matches. It is said that Dav played cricket for Australia in seven ODIs from 1979 to 1980. He was also an all rounder and played Franchise cricket too featuring for Victoria at the first class level scoring over 6000 runs in the process.[2] He retired between 1988 and 1989 to pursue a career in coaching.

Career Statistics

Batting and fielding averages

*Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St

Tests 7 13 0 293 77 22.53 0 2 36 0 13 0

ODIs 1 1 0 2 2 2.00 6 33.33 0 0 0 0 0 0

1stcls 108 189 9 6116 170 33.97 10 35 146 0

List A 26 24 0 464 99 19.33 0 2 8 0

Bowling averages

Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10

Tests 7 1 30 11 0 - - - 2.20 - 0 0 0

ODIs 1 - - - - - - - - - - - -

1stcls 108 275 109 4 1/0 27.25 2.37 68.7 0 0

List A 26 6 3 1 1/3 1/3 3.00 3.00 6.0 0 0 0

Test debut Australia v Pakistan at Melbourne, Mar 10-15, 1979

Last Test India v Australia at Mumbai, Nov 3-7, 1979

Only ODI Australia v West Indies at Sydney, Jan 18, 1980

First-class span 1975-1989

List A span 1976-1988

Coaching career

Dav has been in the coaching field for a long time since his retirement and has coached a number of national sides which include Pakistan and Sri Lanka. His most outstanding performance as coach was in 1996 was when he coached Sri Lanka to world cup victory against Australia. After his successful stint with Sri Lanka, he moved on to coach Bangladesh between 2003 and 2007. Between 2012 and 2014, he was in charge of Pakistan but chose not to renew the contract when it expired.

Appointment as Zimbabwe Coach

Following a disappointing whitewash defeat at the hands of Bangladesh, former coach Stephen Mangongo was sacked thereby making way for Dav Whatmore. His appointment was done with less than two months before the start of the world cup. It was reported that although Whatmore had penned a deal with Zimbabwe cricket whhich would allow him to take charge of the team during the world cup, negotiations were in place to bring him into the fold for a much longer period after the world cup.[3] Part of the deal which Zimbabwe Cricket had entered into with Whatmore would see Zimbabwean players also receiving world class training at the Dav Whatmore Cricket Academy in Dubai. Although it had been widely anticipated that Whatmore would be deputised by Zimbabwe's first test captain, Dave Houghton, the plan failed to materialise after the former Zimbabwean cricketer was said to be involved in other commitments in the United Kingdom.[4] The coming in of Whatmore has been viewed as a move aimed at restoring sanity in the national side which has been performing dismally for quite some now. Commenting on the appointment of Whatmore, Zimbabwe Cricket interim board chairman highlighted that

Whatmore takes over as the national team head coach. He arrives here on Sunday and will have some closed door meetings on Monday to iron out a few outstanding issues,” Manase told the Daily News on Sunday. He should be ready to begin his job as early as Tuesday. His first port of call will be the World Cup and we will negotiate a longer deal after the showcase. Dav brings on board a lot of experience and besides his coaching track record, he also runs the Dav Whatmore Cricket Academy based in Dubai. As part of the deal, we will have some of our players being exposed to the high performance centre which caters for all age groups from the Under-13 going upwards.[4]

Cricket Academy

Whatmore owns the Dav Whatmore cricket academy which focusses on developing cricketing skills from a young age. The academy is based in Dubai. The academy grooms cricketers from the age of 13 years upwards.

Achievements

Whatmore's most outstanding achievement as coach was guiding Sri Lanka to world cup glory in 1996 in which they defeated Australia.<ref name="d">